Ernest Doe
Ernest Doe & Sons Ltd are an Essex, England based agricultural machinery dealer. The company was founded in 1898 in Ulting Essex, England. History The Business started in 1898, when the Young Ernest Doe finished his 5 year apprenticeship at the local blacksmiths his father Charles Doe bought the Forge in Ulting Essex from the owner who was retiring. The site is still the companies headquarters today. Ernest Doe believed the new Tractor would the way forward and he obtained several franchises for the early manufacturers. The firm attended important events like the Essex Show and had a stand displaying examples of the different manufactures represented. By 1941 they were selling 240 tractors a year which include a number of crawler tractors. The company expanded by taking over other small dealers in Essex and the surrounding area. In 1956 they became exclusively a Ford tractor agent. They also had agencies for various makes of plant over the years. Tractor 'Manufacture' 2009]] The company also based on its rootes as a blacksmith grew by building Special Purpose Machines based on standard tractors to better serve the local fruit growers and manufacturing there own implements. This lead to the creation of the Doe Triple D tractor based on the Fordson E1A Major to meet the growing demand for more power from the East Anglian farmers with large acreage and mixed land. The Idea was conceived by local farmer George Pryor, who wanted more power for his clay soil land. After a couple of different designs were built the Idea was licensed to E. Doe and Sons. Implement manufacture and the Doe linkage]] The company built a number of ploughs and toolbar-based implements to go with the Doe Triple D as the main manufactures did not build suitable implements for 100 hp + tractors to get maximum productivity out of them. Some were built by mounting 2 smaller implements on a common 'tool bar' to work double or triple the normal width. other machinery Doe later built a version of the Ford 5000 called the Doe 5100 (as did several other manufacturers like County, Thomas and others). The tractor was built from a Ford 5000 gearbox and axle with an EVA belly casting to allow the industrial 6-cylinder Ford 2704E engine to be used (this engine was not stenthened for use in frames designs so the casting was used to form a frame to carry the front axle loads to the gearbox). But Ford did not approve of the conversion and the idea was dropped with only 3 built. Colchester Tillage Ernest Doe bought a coal merchant in Colchester in 1943 and operated a depot there. When the local Ford dealer went bust, Ford would not give them the franchise for that area of Essex unless they stopped selling other makes. They formed Colchester Tractors Ltd to take over the other operations and operate from the Hythe Hill premises. A subsidiary called Colchester Tillage Ltd was formed to import some continental brands of machinery, including Lemken ploughs and Tico cranes. Some of the cranes were fitted to Fordson power major tractors for use by Civil engineering contractors. Later versions used a County 4-WD conversion as a base unit. The Lemken side of the business was bought out by Lemken UK in 1993 and the remainder became a subsidiary of Ernest Doe Ltd. They were importers forCormach Lorry Cranes and parts for past franchises in the 1990s. The Future Ernest Doe and Sons is now operated by the 4th generation of the Doe family and still a major Dealer for Essex and the South East of England. The company holds a major demonstration day in February to showcase there product lines and demonstrate machinery for the coming year. A Number of classic tractors and machinery are also on show each year. Products * Doe Triple D * Doe 5100 - Only 3 built * Doe ploughs * Doe toolbar system * Doe linkage - used on the Triple D ;Colchester Tillage * Cortil CT74 one ton crane * Cortil CT4504 - based on a County 1184 Branches details required Franchises * Allis-Chalmers * Case * Caterpillar * Cletrac * David Brown * Fowler * Fordson * Ford * Lemken * Moxey * New Holland * Oliver * Ransomes see also * List of Types of Agricultural Machinery * List of Tractor Dealers References / sources * Ford Tractor Conversions, by Stuart Gibbard External links Category:Doe Category:Tractor Dealers Category:Companies of the United Kingdom Category:Tractor manufacturers of the United Kingdom Category:Ford Conversions Category:Implement manufacturers Category:Specialist machinery manufacturers Category:Companies founded in 1898